The Search
by Rei12Miyamoto
Summary: The two girls sat on the rooftop building, staring down at death itself. One sat upright built with a slim figure and long purple hair. The other one was resting calmly on the floor with her brownie locks wrapped around her.
1. Chapter 1

This was a fun story I wrote for a fan page, enjoy!

The two girls sat on the rooftop building, staring down at death itself. One sat upright built with a slim figure and long purple hair. The other one was resting calmly on the floor with her brownie locks wrapped around her.

It was just them at the moment, out to gather supplies for the group. Sitting at the very edge analysing their current situation; it was getting harder to search for supplies. With most of their searching grounds being blocked by "them" or the whole fact that most people took what they could in the first days.

Screams of pain and agony echoed through the confined streets of Japan. They didn't react to the horror; they chose to embrace it, so that it motivated them.

No one could out run death, no matter how strong or weak you were. The end of the world allows you to discover your strengths and more importantly your weaknesses. However In the end, everyone has their limits.

The terrified people below ran left and right across the street, but no matter what they did they still came face to face with death. It was one huge massacre below them; they were above it like they always were.

The brunette looked up at her companion. "Is it time?"

After a moment of hesitation the dark haired beauty replied, "Wait a little longer, then our bloodbath will begin."

With a forced smile that showed the fear that they both felt Rei turned to Saeko. "That's what I've been waiting for."

After a painful wait, in which the remaining few survivors were torn to unrecognisable pieces, it was finally time. The time to go and spill the rotten blood from the diseased bodies of the living dead.

"Which way should we go?" The brunette casually asked, as if the mere sights were of none importance.

A purple head was lifted to face her partner. "It looks like we have the element of surprise, let's go through the alleyway and take them out silently." With the words being said she made her way into the building.

Rei who still standing in her original place, looked off to the alleyway then scoffed. "You weren't always one for attention where you Saeko?" And then followed her into the building and headed for the stairs, only to find that Saeko was two floors ahead of her.

"Hey, what did you do jump your way down?" She teased her comrade as she grabbed her gun and made haste down the stairs.

"I hope that you are not planning on shooting with that, I don't want to make noise this early in a fight." Saeko called from below; her footsteps elegantly reaching the tiled floor allowing no sound to escape around her.

Rei thought that Saeko could always be so deathly quiet whenever she wanted to.

She didn't like that, she wanted to be able to have some view or hint about her enemy; it wouldn't help if your enemy could sneak around silently and out of sight.

"Do you think I'm that dumb? I'm using the bayonet while my back fixes up." At last she caught up with her friend as they approached the door leading to the outside world filled with terror and agony.

Stopping just at the door, Saeko turned around to rest her eyes on the strong, firm figure standing at her side as she had done countless times before.

It filled her with both respect and admiration, the way Rei would place her trust on her once on the battlefield. The more zombies that came across and got their way the tighter they became. Eventually forming an unbreakable force of pure strength, trust, motivation, hope, and strategy. One separate move would bind with the others to take out at least five or six walkers. One defence would protect the other ones attack; together it would protect everyone. This was the power the two martial artists had. It was their strength that had been honed and forged after years of training in their respective arts, after weeks of similar battles and through hours of training and sparing together.

Now any time the two would fight all hell would break loose, their bodies became one each instinctively knowing the others moves so as to take on hits and giving them away. It was all purely held together by the weeks of fighting together at the forefront of their group, they had since all this started even with their differences an unspoken rule, to watch each other's back.

"So how would you want to do this?" Saeko asked, her hand placed on the door handle.

Rei's eyes were resting on that hand, observing curiously as a game plan formed in her head.

"If you're going with surprise, I would choose that we stick with the shadows and use them to take out the ones scattered around the edges." Her brown eyes set upon Saeko's hoping to see an agreement of some sort.

A little puzzled Saeko turned to face Rei "If we use that method and work our way towards the centre of that mob, how long do you think we will keep that element? Remember now they are blind." Saeko smiled to no one in particular, just for her own pleasure. Valuing these brief moments that they had before facing death was crucial to her.

"Well..." Rei mentally slapped herself for forgetting that. "The same but keep quiet." She then opened the door and with a quiet huff. "Let's go find out."

They approached the first walking corpse from behind, seeing as it was the first one from the door. Saeko casually walked passed it hardly glancing in its direction; feeling that it was below her and posed no risk or challenge.

Somehow noticing the human the zombie advanced after Saeko, only to be assaulted from behind by Rei. Her bayonet piercing through the thick dried up flesh and bone of its skull, as the blood spurted from the gaping hole, Rei gave a satisfied smile knowing she eliminated the threat.

Saeko was already pushing ahead getting into a slow jog, hand resting on the handle of her weapon. This was going to be fun.

Rei noted the fact that she had fallen behind and immediately jogged to catch up with Saeko. She ran ahead to the zombie in front, getting ready for her attack. Looking back she saw that Saeko had already killed off another zombie with a swift stab to the back of the head. Later she thought, Saeko was bound to start showing off.

Their actions were raising attention from all around them; a couple of them broke away from the rear and slowly paced their way towards the two attackers. Rei finished off her victim and raced to the next one, no time to bother with the ones approaching; they would take their time even when faced with food. This pattern continued for the next five, but they were drawing too much attention.

Saeko broke away and started fighting away at the ones who were getting close, as Rei continued her attack towards the ones in front of her. This method managed to get them past the second layer of them, it took time but it was efficient and safe for them while working like this. They could just free style it, all the way; that's what they were good at. But this wasn't the time to be taking risks; it was just another killing spree to satisfy themselves.

Sometime later at the end of the battle, Saeko finished off with one of her fancy moves, a high jump followed by a dramatic landing and one big spin which wiped out the dead around her.

Rei had just casually finished spearing one from behind, but had just enough time to glance at Saeko's trick. "It was bound to come, you just can't resist can you? It leaves you with something to impress the others with." Rei grinned at her partner as she walked around making sure the last of them were dead for good.

"I would have hoped that you know by now, that I am not one to gloat." Saeko gave a kind smile as to which Rei returned with her own. "Though I must admit, it was not our flashiest fight." Saeko continued, she wasn't one to talk much but after a refreshing fight she was always aroused with a certain type of euphoric energy that had led to her crying out some embarrassing things in the past.

Much to Rei's amusement.


	2. Chapter 2

Next part have fun reading! ;0

All around them the rotting corpses lay ragged on the concrete. The air was filled with dust and dirt that had been kicked up in the commotion. It wasn't particularly sunny, but no one was picky in these situations. Any sun was better than none. There was wind at least; wind was good at times like this after a battle it would help carry the stale putrid aroma out of the way.

When they were certain that no bodies were about to get up, they walked towards each other to meet at the middle. Rei looked at Saeko whose gaze seemed to be focused somewhere else. "Do you want to go back? Or..." she followed her companion's gaze towards the building that stood by the battlefield.

"I don't know about you but I'm curious as to why those people were here, and so many." She slowly started walking towards the entrance of a building opposite them leaving Rei behind.

"You may have a point, but when we first arrived we checked all these buildings for supplies and stuff." Rei walked towards Saeko who was standing halfway in the dark shadows that the building cast off.

"To correct you…" Saeko started a little irritated. "We checked as much as we could before night fell upon us and we took refuge… All we needed to know was if the area was suitable for our use." As she said that she brushed her hand over the brass doorknob that held the entrance to the structure.

"I don't know about you but there could be something in there that drove all these people here." With the words said, Saeko opened the door and slipped inside abandoning Rei out on the streets.

As soon as the door was opened a stale musty smell escaped out in Rei's direction which made her clamp a hand over her nose. From what she could tell it was darker in there than it was outside, who knew what could be lurking in side.

"That thing is a death trap" She mumbled out load with no use since Saeko was already making her way in. That idiot, she thought to herself, what as this building anyway. Wasn't a shop or anything, probably some old apartments, old apartments filled with the dead.

"If you go that way I'll go this way." Rei started walking.

Saeko walked into the dim building, clasping her weapon close to her. Those light blue eyes cautiously sweeping from corner to corner, checking shadows and cracks. This room had a main hall with stairs leading up. To her right were a bunch of small cupboards, judging by the number of them there were probably around 10-15 apartments here. Who knew what each one could be filled with?

When all hell broke loose most people had barricaded themselves in their homes. But that never got them far, because by some stupid mistake they lost their lives. They all died early on in the fight, their places may contain food and tools needed for survival. But her group weren't the only survivors; there would be others who would kill to live.

Like the one that lost their lives just now, they must have been running away from that big herd for some time now.

It was a big group that had come here after all, and no one would notice if a couple walked away, aside from the present residents there could be a zombie or two. All they need is one sound to locate their food, and they would go and get it; no matter how far away it is. Saeko was always careful to limit the amount of noise that escaped from her movements. It had become a habit that she maintained.

Even before the end of the world, she had never seen herself as the social type. People had looked her way, but she dodged their eyes and kept to herself. She could act properly with people, but it all seemed like a waste of time. What did they have that would be good for her. But when life as you knew it changed for the worse, communication had become key in survival. So the Ice queen of old had to go because going solo would get you nowhere, it would most likely get you killed.

Saeko crossed the main hall, it had only been a couple of weeks since it all started but already this place was gathering dust and dirt. As she looked across the main hall she spotted that 2 or 3 dead bodies were loitered across the floor, each in differing stages of decay. She would have to search these bodies for keys to the apartments. Ughhh, she thought I hate having to do that. I hope that something good would come out of this.

Checking on the notice board that was hanging on the wall, she read that the first 5 apartments were above her head. She would need to create a system for searching through each one carefully.

First the corpses, the first one lay on the floor, it's back facing the ceiling, and it looked like a young woman. That was all she thought about them. She didn't need to know more. Using her katana she pierced it through the skull, since there were no visible head wounds.

Bile leaked out of the hole and filled the air with a putrid smell. So far so good.

She went to check on the next one, circling round it like a vulture; she stopped to a point safe enough from its mouth and hands. An old man of maybe seventy, he was the one that was most rotten. The elders were the first to be eaten, this was the new world, and the new world had rules. Again she pierced the skull to ensure it was dead.

Last one. Walking up to the body as it laid face down again she circled the body and then thrust her blade into the head with an audible crack as bone gave way to steel. With a sigh Saeko then muttered to herself as she walked back over to the first body. "Now for the horrid part."

One last body to check, she had checked the first two that she killed, the old man was lucky. He had a room key; the girl had just been a random walker. The last one was another apartment owner that had a key. This was good; 2 rooms to check which would hopefully give some good supplies, there would be more bodies scattered around closer to their apartments. But most of the time it is all too good to be true, and she had experienced it first-hand. It was never good to get too confident, although confidence isn't despised too much of it could be the end of you.

The keys had been gathered, she stood up and tucked them into her side cursing her lack of pockets, if there was going to be a fight she would need both hands. Saeko could easily fight with one hand, but in this cramped hallway it felt better with two.

The intruder walked towards the stairs, and just as she placed her foot on the first step she took one last look at the room around her. Happy with what she could see Saeko started walking up the flight of stairs. If there were going to be any attackers up there she would know by now, you naturally hear them first before you see them. Zombies won't hide, and if she had made a noise (which she doubted) they would have already made their appearance.

Luckily the keys had been numbered so she knew where they would fit; fist was the old man's place on the first floor. Generally older people would have things like pills and medicines stored in their homes; these were considered more valuable than food. You can grow food, but medicines would need proper manufacturing.

Everyone knew that they would be nearing the times where they would have to go back to all the old fashioned food. And how long would they have to keep on scavenging? Sooner or later they would have to find a place, stick to it, and create a secure ground fit for the living. Since most people had already considered this as the end of the world, there was no chance of going back to the old life. Things had happened and they couldn't be taken back.

Well this hallway was clear from bodies, Saeko mused and it was all quiet. She could easily break into any one of the apartments but the noise would be too risky, and she had keys to some promising places so she wasn't complaining. The old man's apartment was the second one along the hallway. She took out the key and slotted it in place. Turning it slowly she rested her ear onto the door. Old people generally lived alone, but you can never be too sure. It seemed safe, so she pushed the door open. Her expectations weren't high, but this was okay she thought. It was just a simply furnished place bearing everything a person would need to live a normal life.

She would be lying if she said that this place didn't stink; the first thing that she did was open a window. It wasn't much of a difference, the streets smelt like death but the cool breeze was appreciated. First things first, Saeko checked in all the cupboards for medicines and pills. Most of them contained photos of a happy family, but now a days that happy family that you once saw would be walking the streets as a corpse.

With the second cupboard she was more successful, pain killers, cough medicines and a bunch more. This was perfect. Hanging from a coat peg was a brown leather satchel; it would be great to carry all this stuff in. She grabbed it and then ran back and seized all of the medicines that she found and carefully placed them inside. The cupboard above it contained bandages, plasters and other great things. This seemed to be getting better and better. But in this world there can be and has been a sudden drop from happiness to pure hell and despair. This paradise wouldn't last long.

Saeko took everything; no point in leaving something behind, who knows if she got a chance to come back. If Saeko felt bad about taking all this stuff, it didn't show in her. This stuff had no owner, and she was the next person to come across it so it seemed fair that they belonged to her now. The bag was feeling a bit heavy; right now she wished that Rei was here. But enough complaining she still had to check for food.

The kitchen was small, but it still had everything that a kitchen should need. It stank in here too, and so a second window was opened to give her some breathing air too. Standing alone in the small apartment she could hear some sounds rising from outside, better get a move on she thought. Technically she hadn't made a single noise, but she wasn't the only one. Zombies wandered around on their own will, what was going to stop one from entering this place? The battle earlier might have raised some sounds, but that was as quiet as it was going to get.

This man had good taste in food; although most of the fruit was off she could still pick up a bunch of cans. This would keep them going for about a month, she smiled to herself. It felt like forever since she had smiled on her own and not felt the need to brood or fight with that other part of her that gained satisfaction from inflicting pain on her enemy. Smiles were normally from the comfort of her father and few friends would bring it on. However now it was little things like this simple can of curry that would make her smile.

Since there was no power the contents of the fridge would naturally be spoiled though some things could be saved. There was bread, butter, tomatoes and a couple of other vegetables. What looked like meat was inedible; since this all started she wasn't in the mood for meat. Some more food was found in the surrounding cupboards, Saeko is a good cook, if she did say so herself and it would feel great to cook once more. She could make a stew out of this that would make everyone happy.


	3. Chapter 3

All the items she collected went in the bag; now that the Swordswoman wasn't busy with searching she could change her focus to her surroundings. In the time that Saeko had been gathering food, the sound downstairs had increased. At the moment it sounded closer to floor that Saeko was on, but it could have also come from the floor above.

Standing in the gloom, the satchel slung over her left shoulder Saeko raised the weapon felling the hilt grip into the well-developed calluses on her hands. It would be foolish to run into a fight without knowing where or what was going on. So she moved to the shadows and stood there closing her eyes, opened her mouth a little and cocked her head slightly. Listened to the noises focusing in to try and pin point their location.

Now the noises came with an echo and most likely form the hallway outside. Saeko hadn't locked the door behind her in case she needed an escape. But she had closed it; this left her with no exact exit. Any attempt at jumping out of them window would lead to an injury that she wasn't willing to take. Whatever it was that was making the noises didn't have any idea as to where her exact location was and she wasn't willing to give that position away for the moment so she stood still the sound of her own heart beat sounding like thunder in her ears as she willed it to calm down.

There was the sound of a window being opened. At least that was what it felt like; this place was so old that you would get a creek from almost every window or floorboard. The creak of a floorboard or window would sound uncomfortably the same, Saeko wasn't exactly sure on the sound. There was noise on the stairs, but it sounded distant and it didn't need her attention as much. All of a sudden there were the sounds of feet on the floorboards, possibly two or more people out there. Silently Saeko walked towards the door leading into the apartment readying herself as she placed away any fear and began to feel that tingle in anticipation of a kill.

She was only halfway across the apartment when the sound of something heavy dropped onto the floor outside. She walked slightly faster towards the door. Her katana now in one hand behind her and the other on the door handle, she opened the door suddenly placing her hand back onto her weapon as a shadow moved.

"Rei?"

Rei was standing over the dead corpse of a zombie, looking proud and happy to have killed the zombie.

"Well, you've finally made your appearance and it was rather loud at that." Saeko nodded to the body on the floor as she put her weapon back into its saya.

Rei walked over to stand above it and bent down to search its pockets. Silently Saeko walked over to look down the bottom of the stairs in case any more of 'Them' were coming to investigate the noise.

"Don't worry, this one was just a wonderer attracted by the smell of blood." Rei pulled out another room key from its jean pocket, satisfied with the find she tucked it in her side. "I can tell from the bag that you had some lucky finds." Saeko nodded to the bag and pulled out the two keys that she found.

"I just took a trip back to Takashi and told him where we were going to be. I didn't bother calling you since you had already gone into the building, plus it was your life at risk and not mine. A couple of the corpses outside had keys. And by the look of that bag this place is a goldmine." Rei walked to Saeko's opened hand and looked at the keys. "My next key belongs to an apartment on the next floor." Saeko said as she walked towards the stairs, Rei's keys didn't belong to this floor so she didn't have a reason to stay here.

Saeko continued "If what you said is true, then more than just one might pay this place a visit." Saeko took out her key and checked the number; it was the last one in the hallway. All of Rei's keys belonged to this floor, apart from one which belonged to the top floor.

"Here, I'll search these 2 and you'll search the other one." Rei tossed a key to Saeko as she took out the other two keys from her pocket. Saeko was already into one of the apartments, so Rei was behind, again. The room she walked into had belonged to a young boy, and she instantly regretted it. The room was filled with porn and other stuff related to that topic.

"This is going to be a long search" Rei sighed and picked up a bag and walked towards the cupboards. The apartment looked like it had already been searched through but it didn't look thorough, the kitchen was ransacked but there were a couple of cans lying around. She quickly picked them up, then Rei realised that she didn't have a bag, and that she forgot to pick one up from their camp. "Idiot!" muttering to herself as she walked back to the living room, videogames, comics, dirty laundry, but no bag.

The only other place was the bedroom, which Rei had been hopeful that she wouldn't have to enter. Walking to the door she braced herself, and opened the door. The sight that she saw made her cringe, a typical nerd's room stashed to the brim with erotic books, posters and figures. At least something good was coming out of it she noted, a bag was hanging on one of the bed posts across the room. Trying to shield her gaze from the perverted surroundings she crossed to the bed and picked it up; doing that something caught her eye.

It was a small manga lying on the bed spread, naturally she wouldn't dare touch it but on the cover coincidently was a bold picture of teens and zombies. Of course it was perverted but it was the whole zombie topic that had her reading bits and flicking through the book. Soon Rei became so interested in the book that she didn't hear Saeko come strolling into the apartment and smiling.

"Oh wow Rei I really didn't think you were that type of person." This made Rei jump and turn around to see Saeko posing underneath the door frame, there was a small hint of sarcasm in her voice that Rei despised. Saeko continued, "You can take it back I'll understand, but just don't let it distract you too much" Smiling to herself Saeko started walking towards her "perverted" friend while Rei tossed the manga across the room.

"Be quiet! More importantly why are you here? You can't have finished that quickly!" Rei yelled her face blushing slightly, when did Saeko even talk like that? Saeko put a finger to her lips which were still formed in a smile and when she spoke there was still some tease in her tone.

"Lower your voice, I'm here because you gave me the key to the top floor and not this floor" Having said her point Saeko opened her other hand which contained the "wrong" key and holding it up for Rei to see. Studying the object Rei wanted to slap herself for being so ignorant, grunting she tossed the correct key into her comrade's hands before turning her back on her.

"There you go your precious key, now make yourself useful and go make up for the wasted time" Rei smirked picking up the satchel and walking back into the kitchen where she knelt and began picking up the cans. As Saeko walked out the door she smirked "Try not to get distracted this time" and left for her apartment.

Honestly she couldn't lower her guard that much when around Saeko, one little thing will set her off and it would take a lot to make Saeko drop it. Sighing to herself in the empty room she mumbled, "Dam you." After this one she had another one to search, this was going to be tiring.

Rei left her last apartment with two bags over her shoulders, Saeko was standing by the window looking out, weapon at hand.  
>"Get ready; we have a couple of ones attracted by the fresh smell and noise. I can see five coming into the building but there are already more downstairs." Saeko whispered to Rei who was walking over to check the stairs.<p>

"I don't see us fighting well in this cramped hallway with 2 big bags." Rei remarked quietly, then lifted her gun to her chest and placed a finger on the trigger.

"The key that you have is to the big apartment upstairs, this building is pretty close to the one next to it. Let's escape from there."

Saeko skimmed across to the stairs and Rei followed right behind her with the key in her hand. Rei might have not been as quiet and silent as Saeko when they were searching for supplies. And she would have hated to admit that she was the one making some of the noise. This would explain why a couple of them were heading up the stairs their way.

Saeko was in no condition to swing her katana around without hurting herself or Rei, and noise from the gun would draw the attention of more. So if it did go wrong all they could do is kick a couple of them back or stab them with the bayonet on the rifle and continue up the stairs.

One was especially quick and made a lunge at the brunette only managing to grab one of the bags staining it with a dark red. Tugging at the bag only made it crawl up; she made a stab to its head and pushed it off. It landed on top of another one and just like dominos the rest behind it fell back. This small move gained them some time, looking up towards the stairs Rei realised that Saeko was calmly standing at the top looking down at her.

There was a slight smile on her face; sure the corpses were kind of stupid to look at. But it was moments like this in a fight when Saeko would show some emotion that creeped Rei out and she wouldn't know why. Just like that Saeko dropped it and walked away from the stairs while Rei was left to awkwardly dash after her. Looking down the hall she found the correct door and inserted the key into the lock, like always Saeko was by her side looking out for both of them, two of the attackers had climbed their way up the stairs and were limping towards them.

Opening the apartment door, Rei rushed in while Saeko killed off the attacking ones. They could possibly defeat this crowd but with the lack of space and increasing number of them their chance at that was getting smaller by the second. As well as having the obvious escape; by now the building seemed to be shaking due to the pure strength of "them". They kept coming; Rei pulled Saeko in and slammed the door shut. She was holding the door back and waiting for Saeko to move a big cabinet over it. Some hands were sticking out, the solution to that was to simply stab them out of the way. It worked, though one hand completely broke off from the rest of the body and landed on Saeko.  
>"The sooner the better" she muttered as she tackled the cabinet over.<p>

"Anytime would be good!" Rei was shouting over the chorus of groans and moans of them.

Finally Saeko managed to slide the furniture over the door. "That won't hold for long… go look for a window or door!"

Saeko pushed back at the cabinet. "Don't you think that I haven't already figured that out?!" Rei sassed Saeko back, but she was right the cabinet was already creaking under the weight on the other side. They didn't have much time, if they didn't find an exit soon they would be trapped in here with "them".  
>Rei looked around at all the windows but none proved too successful; it all came down to it they could risk a jump to the balcony on the other side. But if they missed...<p>

There came a crash from behind her, she didn't need to look back to know that the cabinet had been tipped over. Saeko would be able to hold some of them back but not for long. The current time that they had was now fewer, at least 30 seconds at the max. But anything could happen and it wouldn't take that much time. That's when she remembered that they were on the top floor; there must be some sort of balcony or at least a little ledge that would provide ground outside the apartment. Across the room to her there was a curtained part, running over she took a glance at Saeko who was succeeding at keeping them back but the wall around the door way was starting to shake as well. This whole place could collapse and they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. They both still had their bags on them so that limited the number of fighting possibilities for them.

Running over to the curtains she pulled them out of the way to reveal a locked glass door. Great just what I needed, she noted to herself. Hopefully the key that unlocked the apartment would work on it; she still had it on her. Pulling it out and slotting it into the key hole she turned it. But it didn't turn.


	4. Chapter 4

"Rei-san!"

The key wasn't fitting. Something brushed along her back and she turned to see Saeko backing towards her; there was already a big mob of them in here.

"Don't tell me?" Saeko sighed as she stabbed one away from them.  
>"I'm on it!" Rei shouted angrily over the chorus of moans coming from the attackers. They were going to get cornered and Saeko's katana wasn't going to be that much help.<p>

"I need something heavy to break the glass down!" Due to her wild panic Rei completely forgot that she had a strong rifle attached to her which would easily break down the glass, and instead looked around for other options. Looking next to her was just what she needed. It was some sort of cabinet on wheels; with no time to waste she ran over and started pushing it from behind, it was about now that she realised her mistake and looked up to see that her way back was being blocked, might as well continue pushing the cabinet. The dead were coming towards them from every direction one looked as if it was about to lunge at her. She knew the target point, and she didn't need to aim much, lifting the gun from her chest she aimed it for the nearest one and fired.

The sound echoed around the room, for a second there was nothing but silence as the bodies picked up the sound. They started to lose their interest in Saeko and advanced to Rei, this created some room for Saeko to use her weapon against them but it was still a struggle.

Rei hadn't shot her gun before but had had other unfortunate encounters with it. It buckled in her hands just like she was expecting, but it was stronger than the last gun. She dropped it and it fell to her chest; the cabinet was close to the window. She stopped, turned around and lifted it onto its side, causing the sound of breaking glass to fly around. She climbed onto the cabinet to make her way across, and it was only then that she thinks about Saeko.

"Go now!" Shouted Saeko from behind her, Rei didn't hesitate and moved forwards careful not to get caught in the shards of glass. Once outside she immediately felt the breeze on her face. Just as fast as she felt the wind she saw that the balcony was small and presumably weak.

"Rei, move out of the way!" Saeko yelled behind her snapping Rei out of her thoughts. What was she going to do? That balcony was far away...  
>Before she could turn around Saeko ran forwards and jumped of the edge. She did one flip in the air and landed graceful on the railing on balcony on the other building.<p>

"Hey Rei you're going to have to jump, I'll catch you." She shouted and got herself ready. This was crazy to Rei; she hadn't attempted a jump like this in forever and was Saeko really strong enough to allow her to catch Rei along with the two heavy bags. Her instincts were telling her not to. But she didn't want to become a snack for them, and she didn't want to leave Takeshi with Saeko. Behind her they were getting closer, but the glass and cabinet was proving a tricky obstacle for some of them to overcome.  
>Closing her eyes she jumped.<p>

Saeko's hand was there, reaching out for hers. It was so close; at the same time it seemed so far away. The wind was blowing in her face, she felt as if it was pushing her back along with the bags on her sides. She only felt a mere second of freedom before she fell against the wall clutching at Saeko's hand. Dead corpses can't jump; they barely have the energy to walk around in the first place. In the sight of food all they could do is walk towards it and topple over the railing and down to the ground smashing their heads.

Rei could see that Saeko was struggling to hold her weight, grunting she found a placing for her foot and lifted herself up as much as she could. Her hand was still holding on to Saeko's hand as she got pulled up and over to find herself on the floor. Taking deep breathes from all the excitement she stood up and looked back to see the mob following them. Some would land on the railing but without the proper functioning muscles they just fell back.

"Well, I think it's time we go home." Saeko held out her hand to Rei panting herself a little, Rei gladly took it.

"Too bad you couldn't have said that so..." she broke off as she came to stare at blood.

She backed away from Saeko as the person in front of her realised what had now appeared on her left arm.  
>"Sa...eko… Is th…that?" Rei's hands fell to her gun in case the worst happened, her eyes were focused on Saeko; watching her every move. As she watched she saw her hand go to the wound, even her face looked to be in shock. If that was Rei then she would be freaking out of her mind, however Saeko being the way she was, was able to show her calmness.<p>

_What is she be thinking at this moment_, Rei wondered given that Saeko was always so hard to read_. But what is there to think about_. Rei hoisted her gun and aimed at the head. Saeko noticed this and was still un-moved.

"You know what we all agreed..." Rei whispered leaning in to her gun, finally Saeko drew her head up.

"And so do you, the first thing is to check the wound." she replied calmly as if the unthinkable wasn't happening.

Rei relaxed her finger on the trigger as she lowered her gun a bit.  
>"Calm down and look at this wound. It happened when I ran past the window one of the glass shards cut me. The wound is neat and thin, they can't match that with their nails or teeth." Saeko turned to show Rei her arm and the wound; it did look fine so Rei carefully approached her. Getting a good glimpse of it, Saeko's truth did seem likely. She chose to bet on that given how honesty was a big thing to Saeko.<p>

"I think I picked up a bandage back in the apartment." Rei started digging around in her bag as Saeko gave a small smile of relief the second Rei's back was turned.  
>"I can't really clean it since I'm not sure what to use or how to do it, but Shizuka-senesi will know. The bandage will just help stop the bleeding." At last she found it and started wrapping it around Saeko's arm.<p>

"I appreciate any help, this will be good enough. Hmm..." She straightened up and looked to her side.  
>"We're on the third floor, below us is an alleyway filled with corpses. Our home building is to our far right." She pointed with her good hand in the said direction. Rei replied.<p>

"Good thing there's that fire exit to our left." Rei added finally securing the bandage as tightly as she could in.

Saeko nodded in agreement and started walking to the left side off the rail.  
>"Well then that's great, because I want to play a little game… you coming" And with that and a flash of purple hair she jumped down a few of the stairs.<p>

Rei curiously followed Saeko down the stairs; so far Saeko hadn't said anything about her so-called "game".  
>"So you were saying?" Rei questioned getting suspicious Saeko stopped and turned around to face her.<br>"It's simple, I ask one question, you give me an answer then you give me a question and so on. I'm bored and I want to break the ice a little bit."

Rei's puzzled expression must have said it all. Since all Saeko did was nod and started walking again.  
>"My turn first." The swordswoman started. "Why do you have to be so competitive with me?" Rei was about to start when Saeko cut her off once more. "Don't get me wrong, I probably know what the answer might be but I want to hear you say it." She was one floor below Rei since she had been walking faster and so looked up at her and smiled.<p>

Rei hadn't been expecting this from Saeko, what she was doing was getting Rei's personal stuff out. Besides if she was going to ask anything from the past there wouldn't be a point in it since the past felt like history now. You had to start anew, Rei could be stubborn with Saeko she knew that and she wanted it that way. But at the moment she felt like relaxing and loosening up a bit. It was a bit of a win-win, she thought. There seemed no harm in answering her first question and anyway she would get to ask Saeko something about herself, _if only I could make her squirm for once_.

"I've always been like that. We both know how competitive it is in our own martial arts and that does spill over. I won't have admitted it until now. Also I admired my Father a lot, he was one of the strongest people in my life, and I value what he did to make it to the top. I suppose I wanted to be like him, to work my way up." Saeko took note of what she was saying as she carried on walking, the heavy bags rubbing against her as well as that her arm were stinging a little.

"But like most things it's easier said than done. And as we are both at the top of our respective arts I guess I just see you as a bit of competition." Rei finished. "Okay, your turn to answer. Why are you so independent, even before it all broke out you kept to yourself" This was going to be good Rei thought waiting for Saeko's answer.

Saeko hesitated before speaking, "My parents would leave me alone most of the time, my Mother because of an early death and my Father because of his competitions. I was left alone at home; I had to grow up to become my own person, to be strong for myself. I am a bit of a self-taught person; I wouldn't speak to most people unless they had something good to offer. Though when my Father was home he would teach me and it was moments like those that helped me improve the most." She sighed as they reached the bottom, Rei smirked behind her back. All the corpses that had landed had all been killed or were in the process of dying, the street was clear to cross they started walking towards home at last.

"Last question get ready." Rei felt a bit worried and annoyed; already she could see Kohta and Takagi on the roof noticing their return. Pretty soon they would be inside, hopefully before Saeko said her question. The gates to the base started opening, Shizuka would be at the front to patch them up if they needed it. That's how it worked. "I wanted to ask you, when you thought I was bit you were so willing to point the gun at my head and end my existence. Of course it must have been panic but it was something else as well?" Saeko stared into Rei's eyes leaving her completely struck by it. Miss Shizuka was running their way with the medical kit in her hands.

"I...!" she was cut off when their medic jumped in front of Saeko.

"Oh no, what happened?! Come in side you two I need to examine you!"

Saeko smiled at her kind words before giving Rei one last questioning look then turned following Mrs Shizuka back inside.

Rei followed behind deep in thought, _why had I been so willing to shoot her_. In a low and confused voice Rei mumbled. "It was just panic, what else could there have been?" Did she really know herself that well, "Have I changed that much?" It scared her that Saeko was able to see that in her. _But how could she see that. _She thought to herself.

"But why must she know?"


End file.
